Well I'll be darned. I just received a call from a recruiter in Arlington, Washington on a PM job. Anyone have any good intel on living in or around Arlington? I was stationed at McChord from 92-94 but haven't been back up in the sound areas since.
Arlington is 25 miles north of me, we have one of our clinics there, and my wife and I are considering the area for our next house, when we downsize next year. It is close enough to the urban areas of Seattle, Everett, Mt. Vernon or Bellingham to have easy access to urban amenities and far enough way to leave the urban problems largely behind. The area skews to the right politically, which may be good thing for you, and there are more outdoor recreation activities nearby in the Cascades than you can shake a stick at. Housing is cheaper, compared to further south.
We like the area a lot.
PS: the one thing we are pondering is that we still have around 10 years in the workforce, and the commute to and from Arlington to points south (where most of the jobs are) can be a bit of a bear. Or so my wife thinks. I commuted from south Snohomish County to downtown Seattle for 25 years, and
that was a commute. Everything else pales by comparison for me. But if your job was nearby such that you did not have to commute to Everett or Seattle, the commute is not a problem.